4DF-01PB
4-H FORESTRY PROJECT
INTRODUCING
YOURSELF
TO TREES
Prepared by Deborah B. Hill
Extension Specialist, Forestry
A G R I C U L T U R E & N AT U R A L R E S O U R C E S • F A M I LY & C O N S U M E R S C I E N C E S
4-H/YOUTH DEVELOPMENT • COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
4-H FORESTRY PROJECT
INTRODUCING YOURSELF
Trees
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth’s sweet flowering breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain,
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
—Joyce Kilmer
S
uppose you woke up tomorrow and there were no
trees or products from trees. What would be
missing? You might be surprised to learn how many
interesting and useful things in your life come from
one of our most valuable natural resources—the
forest. Trees are very important to us. They provide
the oxygen that we breathe and clean water. They
keep our soil from washing away. Trees give us a more
comfortable climate and provide shade in the summertime. They contribute homes and food for wildlife, and
they supply us with food in the form of fruits and nuts.
Also, many products we use are made from the wood of
trees. People have depended on the forests for food,
shelter, clothing, and medicine since the beginning of
recorded time. You are as dependent on the forests today
as the pilgrims were when they established our country.
Whether you are a boy or a girl, from the city or
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TO
TREES
country, you’ll find interesting and exciting activities
in 4-H Forestry. You’ll learn how trees provide
recreation, natural beauty, environmental benefits,
food, medicine, and thousands of wood products.
You’ll learn how to identify trees and which trees are
the most valuable for different purposes and products.
You’ll learn why forests are called our most important
renewable natural resource. You’ll find out how to
become a 4-H Tree Farmer. You might even decide to
seek a career in forest resources or another natural
resources field. Your involvement in 4-H Forestry is
limited only by your imagination.
Have you heard the old saying, “You can’t see the
forest for the trees”? A forest is more than just a
group of trees. A forest is a living community of trees
and other plants, microorganisms and other animals.
Of course a forest would not be a forest without the
trees, but we certainly would be wrong if we thought
that only trees make up a forest.
A forest is a place of endless activity, but you
might have to look closely and quietly to see it. A
never-ending cycle of birth, growth, maturity, death,
decay, and rebirth is in progress every day in the
forest. Grasses, shrubs, herbaceous plants, trees, birds,
amphibians, reptiles, fish, invertebrates, and mammals
are born, live, and die in the forest community.
As the human population increases every year,
more and more pressure is placed on our forests.
Forests are cleared to make room for houses, subdivisions, parking lots, highways, shopping centers,
industries, airports, reservoirs, and waterways. The
remaining forests are expected to provide all of the
timber, wildlife, non-timber forest products, and
recreation opportunities our increasing population
demands.
The Renewable Resource
As wood products are used in more ways by more
people, it is our responsibility to stabilize and even
increase the production of timber from our forests.
One great advantage of wood as a raw material is that
it is renewable. With appropriate and accurate technical information, forest landowners can grow continuous crops of trees. By practicing sound forest resource
management, we can grow successive crops and keep
up the supply of wood products and other forest
community values forever.
The role of the forest in our ecosystems is to
protect against soil erosion, provide clean water, and
produce food (and sometimes shelter) for us and other
animals. Forests also produce oxygen, which all
creatures need for survival. But the demand for wood
products (like lumber for floors and houses, toilet
paper, books, pencils, and furniture) gives trees an
economic value too. This encourages people to grow
trees as a crop, just as the use of cloth makes growing
cotton a practical enterprise for the farmer.
Balancing the forest’s role in our ecosystems with
its role in our economy requires appropriate forest
management. Forests can be managed for many
different purposes, and some forests can be managed
for more than one purpose at a time. We have to cut
some forests or parts of forests to provide us with the
wood products on which we rely. Yet, we need to
leave other forests alone or minimize cutting in them
to provide habitat for animals, especially endangered
species. Some forests grow in such difficult places to
reach that they should simply be left alone.
Many people do not like the idea of cutting down
trees for the purpose of making lumber, pulp, and
other items. What should our viewpoint be toward
this? President Theodore Roosevelt, one of the first
people to be concerned about environmental conservation, stated, “Conservation of forests means wise use.”
To conserve something means “to keep from harm,
decay or loss for future use.” So to conserve our
forests means to manage them in such a way that we
will always have forests for the many benefits they
provide—to us and to all life on earth.
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How a Tree Grows
A forest contains many different kinds of trees,
but all trees have roots, a trunk, and a crown.
The roots anchor the tree in the soil and keep it
from falling over. The roots also take up nutrients and
water from the soil to be used in making food.
The trunk is the part of the tree that provides most
of the wood products we use. The trunk holds up the
crown and acts as a passageway for the water and
nutrients that flow up and down the tree. The trunk
contains many vessels for transporting water and nutrients to the crown from the roots and transporting manufactured food from the crown to other parts of the tree.
The crown is made up of branches, twigs, and
leaves. The leaves are small “factories” that use
nutrients and water from the roots and carbon dioxide
from the air to produce food for the tree. Sunlight
interacts with chlorophyll to provide the energy
source for these factories. This process is called
photosynthesis. Green plants are the only living
things that create their own food. For this reason,
plants are the first link of the food chain and the living
things on which all other creatures depend.
Only three small parts of a tree actually grow on a yearly
basis: the root tips, the cambium layer, and the buds.
The root tips grow from the tree into the soil both
vertically and horizontally in search of water and
nutrients. Roots provide support for the tree as it gets
taller. Most of the roots that provide water and
nutrients for growth (“feeder” roots) are found in the
top 6 inches of soil.
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The cambium layer is a layer of cells just inside
the bark in all parts of the tree—the roots, trunk, and
branches. You can’t really see this layer of cells
between the bark and the wood, but it is what makes
the tree increase in diameter. New wood cells are
produced on the inside of the cambium layer and new
bark cells on the outside of the cambium layer. This
explains why the bark of older trees is rough and
furrowed or scaly: the old bark does not grow, so it
has to crack and break apart as the new bark is produced beneath it.
Buds are the other growth area of a tree. The main
stem of the tree and the branches grow in height and
length through terminal buds. Leaf buds grow into
leaves. Flower buds produce flowers, which later
produce fruit and seed.
Variety and Names of Trees
The United States is a big country with areas that
have mountains, valleys, and plains. Climate, depending on the season, ranges from extremely cold in the
northern portions to extremely warm in the southern
areas. Annual rainfall is heavy in some areas and scarce
in others. Because of this wide variety of climate and
geography, the United States has more than a thousand
tree species. The great variety of trees astonished early
settlers, who were accustomed to only about 100 species
in the lands from which they came.
Learn to recognize and name the different forest
trees in Kentucky (see Extension publications FOR-1,
Kentucky Forest Trees: How to Know Them and FOR65, Tree Tips). Trees can be identified by their
leaves, bark, and/or fruit and seed. Like lots of
other living creatures, trees have their own names
and individual characteristics that help us distinguish one kind from another. The following are
some simple ways to identify trees.
Type of Tree
Leaf Arrangement
There are two major divisions of trees—conifers
(cone-bearing or evergreen trees) and broadleaved
(deciduous) trees. Conifers all have leaves that look
like needles (pines, spruces, firs) or scales (junipers,
cedars). Conifers are attractive in our environment
Leaves occur on twigs in one of three ways. The
two most common ways are opposite leaf arrangement
and alternate leaf arrangement.
because most of them stay green all year. This is
because any particular year of growth produces
needles that stay on the tree more than one year
(usually two or three years), so even though they
lose needles every year, other needles stay on. In
Kentucky, only about 10 percent of our forest trees
are conifers.
Broadleaved trees generally lose their leaves every
autumn. These trees go through the changes of
flowering and leafing out; changing color; forming
fruits, nuts, and seeds; and dropping leaves before
winter. There may be 50 or more species of
broadleaved trees in Kentucky, and they comprise
about 90 percent of our forests.
Conifers are usually distinguished from one
another by their bark; the number of needles in each
bundle (fascicle); the way the needles are arranged
on the twigs; and cone size, shape, and color.
Broadleaved trees are most commonly identified by
their leaves.
In opposite leaf arrangement, leaves occur
opposite one another in pairs along the twig. The
tree’s twigs are also usually opposite one another on
the branches, and its branches are opposite one
another. Five types of trees in Kentucky have opposite
leaf arrangement. They are:
• Dogwoods
• Ashes
• Maples
• Paulownia
• Buckeyes (or Horse chestnuts)
An easy way to remember these tree types is by
the letters D, A, M, P (DAMP) and BUCK for
buckeye or HORSE for horse chestnut. If a tree does
not belong to one of these groups, it does not have
opposite leaf arrangement. If you find a tree that does
have opposite leaf arrangement, it has to be one of
these tree types. Simple, isn’t it?
A much larger group of trees have alternate leaf
arrangement. In this type of arrangement, leaves do
not occur in pairs. Instead, a leaf occurs on one side of
the twig and another leaf occurs on the other side
some distance down the twig.
The third type of leaf arrangement is whorled.
This is when several leaves come out—usually from
the tip of a twig—in a circle, looking a little like a
palmately compound leaf (explained below). A
catalpa tree has a whorled leaf arrangement.
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Leaf Composition
A leaf is either simple, which means there is only
one leaf per stem (or petiole) attached to the twig, or
compound, which means there are several units, or
leaflets, per petiole. There are two types of compound
leaves. Pinnately compound leaves are paired along
the leaf stem with or without a leaflet at the tip so they
look a bit like the barbs on a feather (for example,
ash). Palmately compound leaves spread out in a
group at one end of the leaf stem like the fingers on
the palm of your hand (for example, buckeye). Sometimes, usually only when they are pinnately compound, leaves can be doubly compound (for example,
Kentucky coffeetree).
• Entire—the margin of the leaf is smooth, with
no teeth or indentions. Example: dogwood.
• Serrate—the margin of the leaf has a jagged
edge like a saw. Example: sweet birch.
• Doubly-serrate—the margin of the leaf has both
big and little sawtooth indentations. Example: Eastern
hophornbeam.
• Toothed—the margin of the leaf has big teeth,
bigger than on a serrated leaf. Example: beech.
Leaf lobes: Many tree species have leaves with
distinctive shapes. This usually means the leaf shape
is indented into lobes. The two main types of lobes are
pinnate and palmate, like the leaf arrangement terms.
Pinnate means the cuts occur regularly along both
sides of the long axis of the leaf. Example: red oak.
Palmate means the cuts occur in a more shaped
pattern, though there may be even numbers of indentations on each side. Example: sweet gum.
Leaf shape: Many leaves look very much alike,
but some general shapes of leaves (other than the
Leaf Characteristics
Leaf margin (edge): The edges of leaves often can
help you identify trees. There are four margin types
for you to learn:
lobed varieties) help you tell one from another.
• Ovate—this shape is sort of egg-shaped or oval
and is very popular. Example: persimmon.
• Heart—this shape needs no explanation.
Example: redbud.
• Linear—this shape is usually long and slender,
with little variation in width along its length.
Example: willow.
• Triangular—this shape also needs no explanation. Example: cottonwood.
• Lanceolate—this shape looks like a spearhead,
wider at the base and narrower at the tip, but generally
long and narrow. Example: black cherry.
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So if you find a branch of tree leaves, look to see
if the leaves are simple or compound; opposite or
alternate; lobed or toothed or oddly shaped. You
should be able to identify it easily with some help
from a guide book.
Learn to identify trees by name; each one you
learn becomes a friend.
4-H Forestry Activities
As a 4-H member involved in forestry, you are
challenged to complete several 4-H forestry activities
each year. The number you complete depends on your
interest and the number of years you have been
involved in the 4-H forestry project.
One of these activities could double as a forestry
fair exhibit. See the section in this publication on
Kentucky State Fair exhibits. The following pages
outline activities you can complete. For many of the
activities, there are options you can do in your own
project. For some activities, there are requirements.
When something is required, it will be in bold type,
and if the project is not done according to the requirements, it will NOT be eligible for competition.
4-H Forestry Activity No. 1:
Leaf Collection
Trees are like people: they all have first and last
names and various characteristics that help us tell
them apart from each other. Good collections of plant
specimen mounts for tree identification help club
members get acquainted and stay acquainted with
trees and enable members to help others learn to
identify trees. They provide a good visual for discussion of trees and what they do for us.
Use the following five steps to make a collection
of high quality tree identification mounts.
1. Gather good materials.
Collect fully grown leaves in the early part of the
summer. New spring leaves are not representative of
size, and they often darken in the press because of
their high moisture content. If collecting is delayed
until late summer, it is more difficult to find leaves
not damaged by the wind and sun, insects, or diseases.
Collect twigs of deciduous forest tree species while
the trees are bare of leaves. Flowers should be fully
developed in their prime, and fruits or seeds should be
mature or nearly so.
Select materials that look average or typical for
the species. Avoid choosing damaged leaves.
2. Keep collected items fresh before pressing.
If you go collecting before you have a press, one
of these methods will help keep your materials in
acceptable condition until they can be pressed:
A. Take one or two magazines with you when collecting. Carefully place specimens in the magazine(s)
until you get back to the press. This method works
best if you cut two pieces of stiff cardboard the same
size as your magazine(s). Keep the magazine(s)
between the pieces of cardboard. Use two or three
strong rubber bands to hold the packet together.
B. Make a temporary field press as follows: Cut
several pieces of cardboard into 9-inch by 12-inch
pieces. Place paper towels or sheets of newspaper
between the cardboard pieces. Put collected specimens between the towels or newspaper. Hold these
together with two or three strong rubber bands.
3. Press specimens to retain fresh, natural appearance.
The first condition for success in this step is to have
a satisfactory press. The easiest press to make is the
temporary field press described above. Use corrugated
cardboard and cut the 9-inch by 12-inch pieces so that all
corrugations run parallel to the 9-inch (shorter) side. If
possible, get enough blotting paper to have at least one
sheet for each plant expected in the press at any time. Put
the plant specimens between sheets of newspaper; then
put a blotter between each two plants. Insert a piece of
cardboard every third or fourth plant. Use rubber bands
(or straps with rubber sections inserted) to hold the press
packet together. When the press is loaded, keep it dry
and warm with air circulation around it. Put it on a hard
surface and place about 50 pounds of weight on it. This
weight can be a box of books, rocks, sand, bricks, or
metal scrap.
4. Mount the pressed specimens securely and attractively.
Leaves should be mounted on 8½-inch by 11inch paper or cardboard. The stiffer or heavier
the paper is, the easier it is to keep the pressed
leaves flat. Place only one entire leaf on each
sheet. If trees have compound leaves, make sure you
have the whole leaf. Sassafras and mulberry are
exceptions to the one-leaf rule, because they normally
have more than one leaf shape and all shapes should
be represented. Print the following information in
the lower right hand corner of the sheet:
• Common name of the tree (for example, white oak)
• Scientific name of the tree (for example, Quercus
alba or Quercus alba)
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• Most common purpose for this species (for
example, furniture, wildlife food)
• County where collected
• Date collected (month/year)
• Tree habitat (where growing) (for example,
ridgetop, riverbank, hillside)
One of the most effective methods of mounting
the pressed specimens to the cards is to spread a milkbased (casein) glue (Elmer’s Glue, for example) on
the back, or underside, of each specimen. Place the
specimen (glued-surface down) in the exact position
desired on the mounting card. Lay a sheet of wax
paper over it, and then place a loosely filled 12-pound
bag of sand so that the sand bag can spread over the
entire specimen. Let the sand bag remain on the
mount until the glue has had time to dry.
5. Protect the mounted specimens against breakage,
insects, or other damage.
After you have collected, pressed, and mounted
some attractive tree identification aids, you’ll want to
protect them from damage—scuffing and breaking,
insect damage, and discoloration from light.
The best way to protect your specimens is to use
acetate or cellophane sheet protectors for the mounting sheets. Often two mounts can be placed back to
back in one cover. Not quite so satisfactory is plastic
kitchen wrap to cover the front of the mount. The wrap
can be taped down on the back of the mounting card if it
will not stick to the card.
A stiff-backed three-ring notebook cover offers
the best protection against bending and crushing.
However, using flexible three-ring covers or homemade covers and assembling mounts with string,
leather thongs, or metal rings between covers made of
heavy paper or thin cardboard is also acceptable for
exhibits. A good collection deserves a good protective
cover.
Make sure you have the correct number of tree
leaf specimens for the project number you are
entering for competition.
NOTE: The purpose of leaf collections is to familiarize 4-H’ers with the diversity of Kentucky’s
forests. FOR-1, the tree ID book, lists 87 species.
The second year collection, therefore should be 20
new species different from the first year collection
of 10. Using leaves from the first year collection
will be grounds for disqualifying the collection for
awards.
8
4-H Forestry Activity No. 2:
Leaf Prints
Making leaf prints is a fascinating pastime for
anyone interested in trees. It is also a good method of
making a permanent collection of leaves. All you need
is a stamp pad, (the larger the better), white paper (8½
x 11 regular bond), newspapers, and your leaves.
Press the leaves for an hour in a press as described in
Activity No. 1. This flattens them, making them easier
to print. Then place the leaf under-surface down on
the stamp pad. Cover the leaf with one thickness of
newspaper, and rub it firmly to get ink on the margin,
stem, and veins. If the leaf is larger than the stamp
pad, move the leaf around to get ink over the entire
under-surface. Place only one inked leaf on each
paper. Cover the leaf with one thickness of clean
paper, and rub thoroughly. Be sure to rub the whole
leaf. Do not let the leaf slip or you will spoil the print.
Remove the leaf from your paper, and the print
remains.
To add creativity and beauty to your leaf prints,
try the following method. Mix oil paints to match the
colors of the leaf you want to print. Apply these colors
to the underside of the leaf, copying the exact colors
from the brighter upper side. Work fast so that the
first colors put on do not dry before the last are
applied. Then place the leaf, vein- or painted-side
down, on a sheet of white paper with another sheet of
paper on top of it. Hold the leaf very still and rub it
hard with your fingers. When the upper sheet of paper
and the leaf are removed, a copy of the form and
colors of the original leaf is on your paper.
Place your prints (one print per page) in a
flexible two- or three-ring notebook or cover. Print
the following information in the lower right hand
corner of each leaf print page:
• Common name of the tree (for example, white oak)
• Scientific name of the tree (for example, Quercus
alba or Quercus alba)
• Most common purpose for this species (for
example, furniture, wildlife food)
• County where collected
• Date collected (month/year)
• Tree habitat (where growing) (for example,
ridgetop, riverbank, hillside)
4-H Forestry Activity No. 3:
Branch, Leaf, and Fruit/Seed
Display
5. Make cut “C” lengthwise with the hatchet or
heavy knife, splitting off about one-third of the
section to make a flat surface. This allows the wood
sample to lie flat on the board.
6. Make cut “D” at a 30-degree angle to cut “C” to
show both the grain of the wood and the
bark.The diameter (width) of this section should
be 1¾ inches. Soak the freshly cut sections in a
solution of one pound of sugar per half gallon of water.
7. Let the sections dry for one week. Smooth all cut
surfaces with sandpaper until you can see the grain
of the wood clearly. Start sanding with coarse
sandpaper, then switch to medium and fine.
8. Make your exhibit board by gluing the white
posterboard to one side of the heavy cardboard,
fiberboard, or plywood. This gives your exhibit
enough strength to hold its shape.
9. Title your exhibit KNOW YOUR TREES. Write
the title in block letters 1½ inches high, 2 inches
from the top of the board.
10. Frame the exhibit with the ¾-inch molding.
11. Place the leaves, fruit, and wood on the board
without glue first. Make sure your specimens fit on
the board in the proper arrangement.
12. Mount the fruit or seed 1 inch above the wood
sections. You will have to split some fruits and
seeds in half before mounting them. Pine cones,
hickory nuts, and sweet gum balls can be split with a
fine-toothed saw or sharp knife. After splitting, place
the flat sides against the board. Mount small seeds by
putting glue directly on the board and placing the
seeds in the glue. Use plenty of glue, and let it dry for
several hours.
13. Mount the leaves directly above the fruit or
seed. Make sure the leaves have been dried and
pressed (see directions in Activity No. 1) before
gluing. Put a thin, even coat of glue on the underside
of the leaf. Place the leaf on the board and press it
Project Materials:
• a 22-inch by 28-inch piece of poster board
• a 2-foot by 3-foot piece of stiff cardboard, fiberboard, or thin (¼-inch thick) plywood
• a black crayon or felt-tip marker
• wood glue
• an old magazine or catalog; newspaper
• a handsaw
• a small hatchet or heavy knife
• coarse, medium, and fine sandpaper
• 9 feet of ¾-inch molding
• leaves, fruits (pine cones, sweet gum balls) or
seeds (acorns, hickory nuts), and a section of
branch from five of the major forest tree species of
Kentucky.
Instructions:
1. Get help locating an area in which you can collect
leaf, seed, and stem samples for your display. Make
sure you have the landowner’s permission to collect
samples.
2. Collect one to three leaves and fruits or seeds from
each tree you want to include in your exhibit. Refer to
a tree guide to make sure which trees have compound
leaves.
3. You should be able to collect 2½-inch or 3-inch
diameter sections from large branches of trees. Try to
find a larger tree with a 2-inch or 3-inch limb you can
reach with your saw. You can remove a limb without
killing the tree. Make sure you cut the branch off very
close to the larger branch or tree trunk from which it
is growing.
4. Cut the sections of wood 4 inches long. Make cuts
“A” and “B” as evenly and smoothly as possible.
How to cut a stem
sample for mounting
How to cut a fruit
sample for mounting
cut D
cut A
4"
cut B
21/2 -3"
13/4"
30 degrees
cut C
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down firmly. Make sure when using pine or cedar
you have only one bundle (fascicle) of pine or one
scale of cedar and all parts are glued enough to
fasten them securely to the board.
14. Write the common name of each tree just
below each wood section. The letters should be ½
inch high.
15. Now that your exhibit is complete, get some good
use from it. Use it in a visual presentation at a club
meeting or at school. You might want to use it as a
window display or at a county fair.
16. If possible, have someone take a snapshot of you
and your finished exhibit. You might want to include
a photograph in your 4-H member’s record.
17. If possible, get a local forester to check your
exhibit and sign your record sheet when your project
has been completed. Clip the record sheet and include
it in your current year’s record book.
18. Save this project and other materials for future
reference as you continue in other 4-H forestry projects.
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Glossary of Woods Words
Bole—lower, usable or merchantable portion of the
trunk.
Cambium—soft layer of living cells, one row thick,
between the inner bark and living wood of the tree.
These cells divide and form wood tissue and bark
tissue.
Cord—unit for measuring volume of stacked wood. The
standard cord is 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long.
Crown—upper part of the tree, including the
branches with their leaves or needles.
DBH—diameter at breast height. Assumed to be 4½
feet above the average ground line, normally measured outside the bark.
Heartwood—central portion of the trunk of a tree. It
is inactive and usually darker and less likely to decay
than the outer portion of sapwood.
Photosynthesis—food-making process of a plant in
which carbohydrates or sugars are made from carbon
dioxide in the air and water in the soil in the presence
of sunlight and chlorophyll (the green pigment of
plants).
Reproduction—young trees growing in an area from
self-sown seed of older trees in or near the stand. New
trees also can be planted or intentionally seeded by
people.
Sapling—young tree, usually between 2 and 4 inches
in diameter and less than 20 feet tall.
Sapwood—outer, light-colored wood of trees in
which certain cells are still alive and serve to conduct
water (sap) from the roots to the leaves.
Suppressed tree—small, often unhealthy tree that
ultimately dies from lack of light, nutrients, and water.
It is overcrowded and overtopped by its neighbors.
Shade tolerance—ability of a tree to grow under
shade.
Whorl—group of limbs or leaves growing from the
same level of the branch.
Kentucky State Fair 4-H
Forestry Exhibit
1. Only one entry per child permitted in the Forestry
Section.
2. Exhibitors are NOT to exceed the number of
specimens listed for each class. If numbers are
exceeded, only the specimens mounted first in the
collection up to the maximum will be judged and the
entry will NOT be eligible for a blue ribbon or a
championship ribbon.
3. See State Fair Book for complete details.
First Year
Leaf Collection:
Collect 10 leaves representing 10 forest (not ornamental) trees native to Kentucky. Follow mounting
instructions in Activity No. 1.
Leaf Print Collection:
Collect and print 10 leaves representing 10 forest (not
ornamental) trees native to Kentucky. Follow instructions in Activity No. 2.
Second Year
Leaf Collection:
Collect 20 leaves representing 20 forest (not ornamental and different from species collected for first
year) trees native to Kentucky. Follow mounting
instructions in Activity No. 1.
NOTE: The purpose of leaf collections is to familiarize 4-H’ers with the diversity of Kentucky’s
forests. FOR-1, the tree ID book, lists 87 species.
The second year collection, therefore should be 20
new species different from the first year collection
of 10. Using leaves from the first year collection
will be grounds for disqualifying the collection for
awards.
Educational Exhibit:
Develop a creative educational exhibit on some phase
of forestry. The exhibit may utilize any visual technique. The total exhibit is NOT to exceed dimensions of 2 feet by 2 feet or 4 square feet.
Third Year and Over
Educational Exhibit:
Develop a creative educational exhibit on some phase
of forestry. The exhibit may utilize any visual technique. The total exhibit is not to exceed dimensions
of 3 feet by 3 feet or 9 square feet.
Branch, Leaf, Fruit/Seed Display:
Collect and mount five branches, leaves, and fruits or
seeds representing five major forest (not ornamental)
trees native to Kentucky. Follow instructions in
Activity No. 3.
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4-H Project Record
for Forestry
Name ________________________________________________________
Date _____________________
Name of 4-H or project group ________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Age ___________
•
Grade in school ___________
What are the most important things you learned in this project?
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•
How many project group meetings did you attend? _____
•
List educational tours in which your group participated:
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•
List assistance you gave to other 4-H’ers with their forestry projects:
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•
List talks and demonstrations given that relate to this project (include radio and television appearances):
Topic
Number in
audience
Number of times
given on each level
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• List awards and recognition received in this project; type of award. (Indicate level.)
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• Write a story telling what you did and learned in your forestry project.
Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. Issued in furtherance of
Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, M. Scott Smith, Director of Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky
College of Agriculture, Lexington, and Kentucky State University, Frankfort. Copyright © 2002 for materials developed by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. This publication may
be reproduced in portions or its entirety for educational or nonprofit purposes only. Permitted users shall give credit to the author(s) and include this copyright notice. Publications are also available on
the World Wide Web at: http://www.ca.uky.edu. Issued 12-1996, Revised 1-2002, Last printed 1-2002, 2000 copies, 12000 copies to date.